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Hi all I am having a new kitchen fitted soon and I decided to save some money by installing a new ring main just for the kitchen so when I had the floor up I installed a dedicated radial circuit 16amp supplying a double socket for my amp and cd player I didn't know if this was going to make any difference well I can say without any doubt that it makes a big difference the sound is more 3D and is much clearer as if some one has taken a screen away from in front of the speakers its much better a low volumes I have been swapping between my new circuit and the original ring main and the difference is night and day and she who must be obeyed even commented on it thinking I had been out and bought something without telling her this was an inexpensive upgrade total cost not including my time which to me was free as I enjoyed doing it £40 ish as you can tell I am delighted with the end result :grin: While I was installing these electrical circuits I also ran ethernet cables for my tv and av units as Ive upgraded my internet to upto 60Mb

Now go buy some some expensive power leads to add to the end of that MK wire you just put in!

all banter aside this would be the only power supply mod I would ever consider, a radial circuit straight to a dedicated spur. Although you may well have a problem with your ring main, old wires, loose connections etc hence why you have noticed such a difference. Now you have me thinking as this is something that can be tested easy, ie just run the cable to a spur and back box above the floor before lifting any carpet, floor boards etc. Even cheaper and easier for some to try is to turn off every other appliance on that ring and see if that makes a difference.

A radial circuit = A new power cable straight from main board to its own socket for the non engineers among us.

While there is nothing wrong with running a separate radial link to the distribution board, it is not as if the distribution boad is a magically clean source of power if you have rf problems in the house. Most likely to be clicks and pops when then fridge compressor starts, or the boiler igniter circuit cuts in, this noise will feedback to the distribution board bus bars and then propagate through all of the house wiring - separate spur or not. Running a separate spur increases the "distance" from the noise source to your amp ( and hence attenuation), it does not remove it.

There are regulations which define the amount of EMI a device can produce. Any decent amp should be able to cope with this. If the fridge is objectionable, it is probably because the suppression cap has blown up or fallen off.

The 'veil has lifted' effect noted by the OP is unlikely to be due to rf effects, and equally unlikely to be fixed by installing a spur except in exceptional circumstances.

Edit: the easy way for the OP to tell if there is any real improvement is to try his amp at high volume with the source switched off on his new spur and compare it to his original socket. If there is a noticeable increase in background noise on the original circuit, then his mod has done some good. Otherwise, if it is the same, the mod has made no difference.

In our new house, every socket will have its own radial link to the distribution board. I thought that would be excellent for the hifi in particular, but I read somewhere that the ground (is that the correct term in English?) should be common for the whole hifi chain, in order to prevent ground loops.

Can anyone comment (in a clear but friendly way -- I know less than nothing on this subject :shifty: )? Should I use separate wall sockets for every device, or get a distribution block?

In our new house, every socket will have its own radial link to the distribution board. I thought that would be excellent for the hifi in particular, but I read somewhere that the ground (is that the correct term in English?) should be common for the whole hifi chain, in order to prevent ground loops.

Can anyone comment (in a clear but friendly way -- I know less than nothing on this subject :shifty: )? Should I use separate wall sockets for every device, or get a distribution block?

In our new house, every socket will have its own radial link to the distribution board. I thought that would be excellent for the hifi in particular, but I read somewhere that the ground (is that the correct term in English?) should be common for the whole hifi chain, in order to prevent ground loops.

Can anyone comment (in a clear but friendly way -- I know less than nothing on this subject :shifty: )? Should I use separate wall sockets for every device, or get a distribution block?

No need to worry Doc, just get a couple of these.

One for analogue, one digital, job done.

OK, Dave! Excellent! :eek: :huh:

I know that a picture says more than a thousand words 'n all. But... what the hell is it? Is it from out of space? Does it come from the distant future? Where do I put them? Who sells this? At what price? What does it do?